My Recent Games-Related Writing

New today on Feminist Frequency is my piece What Lies Beneath: On the Love and Anger of Night in the Woods

Night in the Woods reminded me that there are other kinds of representation as well: representations of class issues, mental health issues, and political viewpoints that exist in opposition to the capitalist status quo. Never have I seen my own political views manifested so explicitly and with such unwavering conviction in a game. Night in the Woods doesn’t pull any false equivalency bullshit. It doesn’t pretend that the truth is somewhere in the middle. It is unabashedly anti-capitalist and anti-fascist, and I love it for that.

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And last month, I wrote about Yakuza 0, John Wick: Chapter Two, and simultaneously being a feminist, a critic, and a human being in my piece Hall of Mirrors: Facing Patriarchy in the Media, Facing Ourselves.

We are human beings in the cinema, or on the couch holding the controller or watching the television. We are complex and full of contradictions. We contain multitudes, and so do our readers. Part of the trick, it seems to me, lies in striking that balance, bringing both heart and intellect to bear. To ignore a work’s harmful values or messages is irresponsible. To deny that a work with harmful values or messages can still have moments of beauty or value or can still move us in some way is reductive.

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Thanks for reading!